Simply the Best

West Indian fast bowler Tino Best has given hope to all number eleven batsmen. In the rain-affected third test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, he has become the highest-scoring #11 in the history of test cricket; Cricinfo reports:

Tino Best, whose career as a Test batsman was previously encapsulated by Andrew Flintoff's "mind the windows" jibe at Lord's eight years ago, struck back with a world record innings by a Test No. 11 on his return to the West Indies Test side, a fantastical affair that shattered England's faint chances of winning the Edgbaston Test in the process.

In the innings of his life, all that was lacking was the first century by a No. 11 batsman in Tests. He fell attempting a wind-up over long-on that he envisaged would clear the ropes and give him that historic hundred, only to be deceived by a slower ball by Graham Onions and edge to England's captain, Andrew Strauss, running backwards from slip. By then everybody outside the England dressing room must have been willing him to make it.

Best scored 95 from 112 balls in a last-wicket stand of 143 - the highest in West Indies Test history and the third best of all time. He is now the proud holder of the highest score by a No. 11 in Test cricket, outdoing Zaheer Khan's 75 for India against Bangladesh in Dhaka eight years ago. 

It was from all reports a rollicking good knock from Best. And his disappointment at not being the first tail-end Charlie to get a century should be comforted by this thought; his 95 will never, EVER be beaten by Chris Martin, a number eleven's #11!